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Hi Ladies!
I used to post occassionally over the summer, but then life got a little too hectic for me to find any time to keep up. On 11/11 I gave birth to our 6th Little One. She's an excellent baby and such a wonderful sleeper, I really have no reason to complain....But, I find myself having a really hard time handling everything on my own. My Hubby works a lot, he leaves around 7:30am and doesn't get home until after 5pm, but is on call 24/7, even holidays. So, at any moment if his phone rings he's out the door and gone again for a few hours. Keeping everything organized, doing housework, laundry, getting ready for Christmas, potty training, homeschooling and still having some energy left over to spend time with the kiddos is taking it's toll on me. All my children are acting out in one way or another and tackling the discipline department from all age groups is exhausting.

Could anyone offer any advice or encouragement to help me get through this?

Thanks Ladies
Becky

__________________Becky, Wife to Dan and Momma toDanny (15), Andrew (9), Lizzie (8), Matthew and Sarah
our Twin Angel Babies taken home to be with Jesus on 11/7/03, Joshy (4), Gracie (2),
Baby Emma born 11/11/10 and Baby Bean Due 10/02/11

pray, momma, just pray when ever you get a moment. and realize that it will not always be like this. i dont have any specific advice or steps to follow except just try to keep things going in the direction you used to and choose your battles.

I have little to no advice, other than to be consistent, and be gentle with yourself. You're only human, and none of us has super powers.
Mine are all four and under, which I know is prolly easier than having older kids in the mix, as I know they can help some, but they also add a new element of drama to the mix.
Are the older ones helping as much as they could be? I'm not asking them to do things above their responsibility level, but as they mature, they should be doing their chores, and helping some with the littles.
Great in theory, harder to implement on your own, I know.

Definitely make the olders do a lot more. I had my #8 on Nov 12! I don't do much housework at all. I do run the laundry, but they fold it and put it away. The littles don't do a perfect job, but it is better than me doing it! The girls do the dishes, the oldest girl cleans the main bath. The boys take out the trash. The rest I just assign on an as needed basis. I know how you feel though, about adding in the new one. But she just turned 6 weeks old. Working moms don't even go back to work yet and you have been trying to keep up with everything you always did? I stopped homeschooling the day before mine was born. I will start again after the 1st. Focus only on the HAVE tos. And there aren't a lot of them, I can assure you. We have done almost nothing since baby was born and I have been very happy. Best wishes and keep us posted on how you are doing. Take a break! I also only plan dinner. The big girls make breakfast and lunch. And I said plan, I don't always make.

Thank you all for your help! I definitely haven't been making the olders do what they should be doing and I've been so worried about making the 180 day mark (our state's requirement) for homeschooling that I wasn't willing to take more than a week break....until now I guess I need to just lighten up on myself a little and start deligating a bit better than I have been!

Thanks again

__________________Becky, Wife to Dan and Momma toDanny (15), Andrew (9), Lizzie (8), Matthew and Sarah
our Twin Angel Babies taken home to be with Jesus on 11/7/03, Joshy (4), Gracie (2),
Baby Emma born 11/11/10 and Baby Bean Due 10/02/11